Whitney Houston’s Private Funeral Set for Feb. 18

Whitney Houston will be laid to rest this Saturday, Feb. 18. at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J. The private funeral will be held at noon. There are currently no plans for a wake nor any public memorials.

The late singer’s body landed in her native state of New Jersey on Monday night, Feb. 13, and was transported from Los Angeles to New Jersey via Tyler Perry’s private plane. Houston’s body landed at Teterboro airport, about 20 minutes outside New York City, before being transported in a gold hearse to the Whigham funeral home in Newark around midnight.

The invitation-only funeral will be reserved to Houston’s closest friends and family, as the church seats about 300. Houston’s family wishes the funeral to be private out of respect for those grieving not the superstar, but the person.

The New Hope Baptist Church is the one that sparked Houston’s musical career. She sang in the church’s choir as a child with mother Cissy Houston and cousin Dionne Warwick.

“They have shared her for 30 some years with the city, with the state, with the world. This is their time now for their farewell,” Whigham Funeral Home owner Carolyn Whigham told reporters. “The family thanks all the fans, the friends and the media, but this time is their private time.”